DC Comics faces total reboot- 75 years of history to be scrapped

[Happy-Hangman]

Originally Posted by igniz13

I think there's a problem when plots revolve around old stuff. Not everyones going to bother looking this stuff up. I look at the Marvel and DC loved I have no idea whats going on at the moment and getting back into things is of little interest.

To be honest I don't think the problem is with the 'old stuff' being referenced - save for Morrison's uuber-ironic Batman vanity projects, which I'm pretty sure are fairly incomprehensible to Noobs. The problem is the habit of endless event-ing that both major houses have fallen into in recent years - dominating their 'universes', crossing over major titles interminably, and becoming required reading to make sense of the next events.

I collected blackest night as a trade and I dont know whats going on.. Ive git siege and I dont know where to start with fear itself. One the trade are sorted out I might take a look but im backing off from the Marvel and DC worlds. Ive git manga and comics which make sense and I know where to start and they're relatively short series. And im talking about series which have been going foryears d not decades.

Quite. We're inevitably told that the Marvel/DC Universe 'will never be the same again' (which it invariably is six months down the line, when writers and editors quickly discover that their gimmick du jour has outlived its welcome), which can provoke gleeful fan-squee from the die-hard geeks...but which leaves potential new readers scratching their heads, briefly, before they drift off to the self-contained Manga shelves.

I'm one of the old-school geeks. I'm still ticked off by the needless changes to Wonder Woman - essentially changing her into a completely different character - and I'm sure I'll utterly loathe some of the changes to come post-September. I'm sure I'll love others, and that some of the feared tweaks and ret-cons to major icons have been blown out of proportion. That's what happened with 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' in 1985 (the 50th Anniversary event). Some of those changes were tweaked again or completely undone in subsequent events, from 'Zero Hour' to 'Infinite Crisis'. Hell, ten years ago, Hal Jordan, Oliver Queen and Barry Allen (amongst others) were all dead, continuity-wise, so even within one evolving continuity these things are infinitely malleable.

My sympathy, currently, is with the retailers. Because the steady comic-buying market is ageing, I know a few who have already lost business because a number of dedicated readers have taken umbrage with the proposed changes (even though we don't know what many of them may be), or cancelled orders leading up to September because the stories ending before then are no longer relevant. A push to sales of Digital will also hit retailers hard...and make piracy easier.

[Wobbuffet!]

I'm actually really looking forward to this. Maybe I'm just an idiot, impressed by stuff like #1s, special covers and new flavours of Ben & Jerry's, but DC are getting money from me for 20+ comics a month and this relaunch isn't gonna put me off. In fact, with new stuff like Aquaman and Red Lanterns, I'll actually probably end up increasing my load.

The JLA looks like it's really gonna benefit...it's going from a team "starring" Jesse Quick, Starman and Congorilla to THAT. Awesome.

I'm not into Barbara supposedly coming back as Batgirl though...it was really kinda good with Steph...ehhh. =/

[Jonemoongoose]

I jumped ship on a number of DC titles following Final Crisis as it seemed to be ignored by most editors/writers as were some of the outcomes of previous events which were contridicted by bad writing/editing almost immediately (i'm looking at you Shadowpact).

This is a chance for DC to get a decent continunity going and get rid off issues such as the JSA whose senior members must be in their late 80's at least. I know they tried this after Crisis and I enjoyed their title until Johns left. They could do a JSA/AllStar Squadron series set in WWII and then a series set in late 80's till now when they train the current heroes to replace them in retirement.

However, whatever the new continunity it will need fixing periodically as real time passes - such is the curse of monthly ongoings.

[Midnighter]

Originally Posted by Midnighter

Are these the Batman and Detective relaunch covers? - Love that Joker!

It seems not. Here are the covers to Batman #1 and Detective #1. Which does leave me wondering what that rather cool Joker image is actually from?

Bleedingcool and IGN also have the covers for the relaunch issues of Batwoman, Swamp Thing, Batman & Robin, Nightwing, Catwoman and what could be the Batgirl cover along with news of the Bat-relaunch.

[roddersj04]

IGN has the plans listed for the relaunched Batman

Basically, they'll be renumbering Detective Comics and Batman back to #1, with Detective Comics telling a story of Batman hunting The Gotham Ripper.

Bruce Wayne will be the main star, back in the cowl and, apparently, the only character wearing a Batman suit. No info on Dick Grayson or Batman Inc yet.

What i'm interested in is that Damian will still be Robin, so for the first time, we'll have father and son working together to save Gotham

[Wobbuffet!]

I couldn't be more pleased about the teams for Batman and Detective. I'm just glad Grant Morrison's name hasn't popped up yet...Batman Inc was tragic, so I'm hoping maybe he's just decided to retire with his riches.

I'll miss Dick and Steph though, and I could really do without Damian (I would have expected Tim being Robin, and Damian just getting ditched, but whatever). Looks like Dick is going back to being Nightwing, so hopefully Red Robin might stick around in his own title (because it's ruled). I really liked Steph, and I've never really been able to stand Barbara, so that's kinda a shame...

[roddersj04]

Barbara Gordon will be Batgirl again!

Hopefully they'll address her walking again after 20 years, rather than ignoring it all together, but we shall find out in Batgirl #1, along with Catwoman, Birds of Prey and Batwoman #1 issues

EDIT: And Dick Graysons back to being Nightwing

We're also getting new character BatWing and an African Batman from Batman Inc so it looks like DC are trying to be more diverse

[Midnighter]

Originally Posted by Wobbuffet!

I'm just glad Grant Morrison's name hasn't popped up yet...Batman Inc was tragic, so I'm hoping maybe he's just decided to retire with his riches.

Until now. It's been announced that Batman Inc's taking a brief hiatus after #10. It'll return for the planned second season in 2012 with Batman: Leviathan, the 12 part conclusion to Morrison's Batman saga.

[Wobbuffet!]

Batman Inc seemed to take a brief hiatus after every other issue, so maybe Morrison might just forget about it and go away... >_>

[Midnighter]

You can but hope.

Bleddingcool has news on DC's dark side here and here. Oh, my. What have they done to Zatanna? Yep, that's her on the cover of Justice League Dark with the fishnet sleeves.

They've announced a few more titles, among them Hawk & Dove one of the titles that started me reading comics . Now, if only it were drawn by someone other than Rob Liefeld I might actually consider picking it up.